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When in space, you must dock into star bases, adquirea spaceship and shoot down TIE-Fighter clones.Towns and castles are one-screen areas wheremost of the game’s solution are uncovered via jesterstalking out loud, or by spending money in bars. Itemsand food can be bought or stolen, with the chances ofvery tough and angry guards homing in on a caughtoffender’s position. As the player progresses, thetechnology of the world advances, and various newweapons and armors begin showing up in the stores,going from swords and bows to pistols, energy swordsand even a “phazor”. That also includes vehicles, suchas a hovercraft with lasers and a space shuttle (again,anything went!).Ultima allows you to play a Human, Elf, Dwarf or“Bobbit”, as either a Fighter, Cleric, Rogue or Wizard.Those mostly just change your initial attributes, asanyone can use any equipment, but only the Wizardcan cast some of the spells. The magic system is quitesimple, with only a few different spells available intowns as one-cast scrolls. And really, only two areuseful: Ladders Up & Down. Those aid in making thedungeons somewhat light and semi-optional, as theyallow one to avoid having to seriously map or look forsecret doors in any of the many dungeons.For a new RPG player this makes Ultima a greatfirst taste of the grand-fathers of the genre, especiallyfor one who isn’t heavily invested in complicatedgames. You can read the gorgeous manual illustratedby Denis Loubet to make you feel as if you’re a part ofthis world, and then the Command Summary Card tolearn the few keystrokes required to play.Ultima was my first real RPG experience. WhileI had some understanding of this sort of thing thanksto the Endless Quest and Choose your Own Adventurebooks, this game was like nothing my 13 yearoldmind had experienced back in 1988 on my newCommodore 64. It taught me keyboard layouts andhow these “RPG things” worked. To look for clues.At Lord British’s castle, with the Jester shouting he hasthe key I need. In a RPG, that’s a death wish.To explore a world with much of its flavor in the manual’swonderful text and artwork. To BE in an adventure,as opposed to just watching the animated Hobbitfilm. This game took me a good month to complete– with only a single call to Origin’s hint line towardsthe end game – in those days before game solutionswere easily available.And it made me fall in love with the genre as awhole. Would a much more difficult and unforgivinggame like Wizardry have done the same, with itsdeadly traps and multiple characters – who couldall be permanently wiped out in an instant? WouldApshai, with its far finickier control scheme, worlddetail hidden within multiple paragraphs to read in abooklet and far slower form of character advancementhad done the same? Probably not. RMThe remakeIn 1986 Ultima was re-released as Ultima 1: The FirstAge of Darkness, with new versions for the AppleII, Commodore 64, IBM PC and various japanesecomputers, such as the MSX2 and FM-Towns.Outside Lord British’s castle, on the IBM PC version.It isn’t a massive graphical leap, but it’s nice.Fan JosephPropati createda boardgameadaptation ofUltima, madefor solo play.It’s free, andyou can findit at http://boardgamegeek.com19